Men's golf team wins Ohio Valley Conference Sportsmanship Award

May 13, 2013

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced
Tuesday that the Tennessee Tech University men’s team is the
recipient of the 2012-13 Team Sportsmanship Awards for men's
golf.

Voted on by the
student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team
awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best
exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as
outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation
are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and
administrators and fans.

“Without sportsmanship
there are truly no meaningful victories,” said Beth DeBauche,
OVC Commissioner. “The recipients of the OVC Team
Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for
their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify
the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this
prestigious honor other competitors are saying these
student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and
value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits
that will lead to true victories throughout the course of
life.”

The 2012-13 school year marks the eighth year the team
sportsmanship honors have been awarded. It marks the third award
for the Tennessee Tech men’s program (the Golden Eagles also
won in 2005-06 and 2006-07).

Tennessee Tech finished third at the OVC Men’s Golf
Championship this year.

“It is an honor to have something voted on by your fellow
competitors and to represent the OVC with sportsmanship. I’m
excited for our kids to get this award,” said Tennessee Tech
head coach Polk Brown. “It is a testament of how much our
peers enjoy playing with our kids and the leadership of our two
seniors on the younger kids. We want to represent Tech well and the
OVC well.”

Implemented in August 2005, the
team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that
recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In
1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship
Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of
junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of
the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator.
Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award,
presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers
to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical
behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a
first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy
promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for
one’s opponent. The statement answered the challenge of
the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in
collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow
across the nation.